Project Description

The Guaraqueçaba Climate Action Project seeks to restore and protect approximately 20,000 acres (8,100 hectares, ha) of partially degraded and/or deforested tropical forest within the Guaraqueçaba Environmental Protection Area in southern Brazil.  With financial support from Central and South West Corporation, a Texas-based electric utility, the Project--a collaborative effort between CSW, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental (SPVS), a Brazilian conservation organization--will promote assisted natural forest regeneration on pastures and degraded forests on acquired lands.  It will also protect standing forest that still exists within the Project area but is under threat of deforestation.  With a total investment of $5.4 million, the Project is expected to reduce or avoid emissions equivalent to approximately 1 million metric tons of carbon over the next 40 years. 

The Project aims to produce significant net carbon benefits that are scientifically quantifiable and long-lasting; protect biodiversity and ecosystems; improve local environmental quality; and promote sustainable development by creating economic opportunities for local people.

Objectives

The main objective of the reforestation component is to recover degraded pasture areas on the Project Site by promoting natural forest regeneration through facilitation planting of native species on degraded pastures.  The Project will also restore degraded forests by reintroducing over-logged species and rejuvenating natural habitats.  The goals of the reforestation component will be accomplished through the following activities:

• Restoration of native forests on at least 90% of current pasture areas on the Project Site through reforestation (30%), and natural and assisted regeneration (60%);

• Enrichment of 40% of the degraded forests on the Project Site;

• Preservation and enhancement of biodiversity on the Project Site through the reintroduction of missing flora species and enhancement of diminished populations.

Physical Setting

The Project Area is located in the threatened Atlantic Forest and is comprised of six different ecosystems.  While some original forest still exists on the Site’s steepest mountain slopes, information gathered to date suggests that the entire area has undergone changes in its forest structure and that part of its biodiversity has been lost, especially hardwood species found in mature forests.

The six ecosystems found on the Project Site are:

• Pioneer formations of fluvio-marine influence, i.e. mangroves along shorelines;

• Pioneer formations of fluvial influence, i.e. swamps on the lowest parts of the coastal plain;

• Lowland dense ombrophilous forest, on the coastal plain;

• Submontane dense ombrophilous forest, on the lower mountain slopes up to 300-400 meters high;

• Montane dense ombrophilous forest, on intermediate mountain slopes up to 800-1200 meters high;

• High montane dense ombrophilous forest, growing on shallow soils on mountain tops.

Projected Activities

This is a pioneer project and one of the few attempts to recover degraded areas within the Atlantic Forest.  Reforestation and forest enhancement activities will reinstate forest cover on the areas most affected by clear-cutting for buffalo ranching (the coastal plain and lower mountain slopes); rehabilitate the forest structure on steeper slopes; and reintroduce hardwood species that have been devastated by selective logging.

In conjunction with the Federal Government’s agricultural agency (EMBRAPA), SPVS has conducted extensive soil and vegetation surveys in order to determine the ideal species to plant in order to restore forests on the Project Site to their original condition.  Together with EMBRAPA and the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), SPVS is conducting germination tests on a variety of pioneer and early secondary species and test their capacity for growth.  Control plots will be established in priority areas to monitor species’ growth, and results will be used to plan rehabilitation activities.

SPVS has a nursery that can produce approximately 150,000 seedlings of native tree species per year, with the expectation that 80% will be viable for planting. In total, SPVS and EMBRAPA will plant approximately 500,000 trees over a period of five years.  SPVS has already planted 10,000 native seedlings as a test and will plant at least 30,000 more by June 2001.

Approximately 30%, or 134 hectares, of the Project Site’s total pasture area will be planted using pioneer, early secondary, old secondary, and climax (shade tolerant) native species mimicking natural successional sequences.  SPVS will plant small areas, or “islands,” that will produce seeds which in turn will be spread to other areas by birds, bats, wind, and other natural means. SPVS is evaluating two methods to achieve seed dispersion.  The first involves planting pioneer species in small “islands” surrounding a large central area (diversity island) that is planted with pioneer, secondary, and climax species.  The second consists of planting many small islands with a mix of pioneer, secondary and climax species.

Example of a planting pattern:

                                                               g                            g                            g                           

                                               g                            g                            g                            g           

                                g                            g                            g                            g                           

                g                n                g                            g

                                                               g                            g                            g                           

                                               g                            g                            g                            g           

                                                               g                            g                            g                           

Legend:

 g = Islands with pioneer species only

 n = Island with pioneer, secondary and climax species

SPVS is first planting pioneer and early secondary species that will colonize degraded areas, providing shade to the late secondary and climax species that will be planted after two years. All seeds have been collected at the Project Site and at another natural reserve managed by SPVS. SPVS and EMBRAPA defined about 70 species for seedling production during project development and in this initial phase are producing seedlings of 15 pioneer species that are adapted to poor, waterlogged soils. SPVS’s nursery facility is producing seedlings in plastic tubes (50 cm³) that are easily transportable and can be used several times.  These tubes also enable better fine-root development than plastic bags, improving the seedlings’ capacity to absorb nutrients.

SPVS’s forest restoration and rehabilitation efforts will include the re-introduction of overlogged hardwood species to 40% of the Project Area (approximately 200 hectares) which is currently covered by shrubs or early secondary forests.  It is expected that when these trees mature in 10-15 years, they will produce seeds that will spread by natural means to the remaining forested areas on the Project Site.

Given the innovative nature of this project, SPVS will keep detailed records of its activities and maintain control sites against which to measure the progress of replanted tree species.  It will encourage outside researchers to conduct detailed studies on its reforestation activities and publish research papers on their findings.  A number of outside institutions, including EMBRAPA and the Federal University of Paraná, have already expressed interest in using the Project Site for this purpose.  Finally, the changes in four carbon pools resulting from these activities will be closely measured and monitored with field measurements taken in permanent sampling plots throughout the Project Term.

Reforestation and forest enhancement efforts will be complemented by activities aimed at increasing productivity on agricultural and ranching lands.  The Project will demonstrate new agricultural and pasture management techniques that will allow existing agricultural and ranching activities to be concentrated in smaller areas, making more land available for reforestation and natural forest regeneration.